Gay actor Travis Turner is relishing his chance to return to The Upstairs Concierge, which is about to make its official world premiere at the Goodman Theatre. Travis previously appeared in the modern-day farce by Kristoffer Diaz ( a Pulitzer Prize finalist for the comedy The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety ) when it played the Goodman's New Stages Festival of semi-staged developmental works in 2013.
So now Turner is very glad to be a part of The Upstairs Concierge as a co-commission with Teatro Vista, a largely Latino Chicago theater ensemble where Diaz is playwright in residence. Yet some of the particulars of Turner's enigmatic comic character have changed.
Turner previously played "Royals Guy" in the show, but the Kansas City baseball team's amazing run last year through to the World Series necessitated a change. Diaz intended Turner's character to be from a perpetually lackluster and underperforming Major League Baseball market, so he was forced to switch the character's home base to Houston, hence the new moniker of "Astros Guy."
"I actually spent a lot of time in Kansas as a kid, and so I was really attached to being 'Royals Guy,'" Turner said. "But to be honest, with my character there's a question as to whether or not he knows anything about Houston. My character certainly is an enigma and he could be many things. He's also the one character without a name—he's just known as 'Astros Guy.'"
Yet even without a name, Turner is glad that he gets to be in a custom-built comic farce by Diaz who wrote the script largely as a showcase for Teatro Vista ensemble members. Set in the upper floors of a modern-day swanky Chicago hotel, The Upstairs Concierge focuses the newly hired Ella Elizondo ( Tawny Newsome ) who tries her utmost to please her publicity-hungry employers while catering to recently minted and demanding celebrities who have the power to make or break the hotel's trendy reputation. Through the course of the play, both men and women make advances on Ella ( among other characters ).
Diaz wanted the challenge of writing a door-slamming farce in the age of social media and stars who are famous for being famous. Yet Diaz also wanted to cast it with minority actors since they are often not considered by casting directors for classic farces by the likes of Georges Feydeau or modern ones like Noises Off by Michael Frayn or Lend Me a Tenor by Ken Ludwig.
"I wanted these great actors to be able to flex their comedic muscles," said the Brooklyn-based Diaz, adding in particular that Turner and Newsome particularly impressed him last year performing in The Second City collaboration with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago called The Art of Falling—so much so that Diaz sent out a tweet to all his followers boasting how he was writing a comedy specifically featuring them.
Diaz said Turner became a part of The Upstairs Concierge fairly late in the game of the play's development and workshops. It was Turner's audition for the New Stages production just wowed Diaz, who said that he and his collaborators previously couldn't quite figure the character out.
"Travis was just one of the funniest actors because the humor he found came from a real dark place," Diaz said. "He was absurd, but completely grounded."
Diaz noted that Turner had just come in to audition after performing in director Charles Newell's largely African-American recasting of Moliere's classic comedies The Misanthrope and Tartuffe for Court Theatre, which was certainly a plus.
Indeed, Turner is particularly proud of being a part of the 2013 Moliere comedies at Court Theatre and that Newell decided to do nontraditional casting for the productions that explored some modern racial dynamics in America. Far from being a stylistic clash, Turner said Moliere's heightened language of rhyming couplets fit with modern hip-hop culture where language became a sparring device that could be seen as thoughtful and powerful battle raps.
But in the case of a modern farce like The Upstairs Concierge, Turner says he's also glad that Diaz has taken a different approach.
"What I do love about our show is even though it features minority actors of color, that's never addressed in the play," Turner said. "It is not about race, so that's certainly satisfying and refreshing."
The Upstairs Concierge runs from Saturday, March 28, through Sunday, April 26, in the Owen Theatre space of the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Previews go through Sunday, April 5, with an official press opening on Monday, April 6. Tickets are $10-$40; call 312-443-3800 or visit www.goodmantheatre.org .
